


Running Out

by SleepsWithCoyotes



Category: American McGee's Alice
Genre: Community: ironman7, Gen, archive fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 10:11:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14041971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepsWithCoyotes/pseuds/SleepsWithCoyotes
Summary: You're late, you're late.





	Running Out

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Ironman7 challenge. [week 1 - prompt #6] A rather more brusque and driven Cat than my norm, but hey.

_Forgive me if I seem unkind, you've got your troubles, I've got mine._

After Rabbit's death, she sometimes felt as if Cat had taken up their friend's mantra, with one subtle difference. It was always: " _You're_ late; hurry, there's no time."

Of course there wasn't; Time had deserted them, had turned his back on all of Wonderland after the abuse he'd taken at the Hatter's hands.

In her pocket, the Deadtime Watch ticked softly to itself, the constant chatter of a hundred tiny teeth grinding up seconds and minutes until it could catch up with fleeing Time, open wide its jaws and stop him in his tracks. Sometimes when she held it in her hands, she wanted nothing more than to cock her arm back like a boy and throw it as far as she could. Its clockwork metronome reminded her too much of what she'd seen in the Hatter's inner sanctum, poor Dormy and the addled March Hare dissected and entangled with gears, pistons, wires.

She didn't think she could bear to see something like that again. She was just so _tired._

Somewhere deeper in, looming high over the walls of the hedge maze tucked around its base like a bride's long skirts, the Red Queen's castle drew her like a beacon. Once she found the Queen--and removed her--it'd all be over. There was just this horrible maze to solve first.

"Oi...did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Over there--"

Ducking through the first arch on her right, she crouched down and crept along until she was out of sight of the opening, listening to the clank and tramp of card guards passing through the corridor she'd just left. They were so close she couldn't believe they hadn't seen her dart away from their patrol, and through the cover of twigs and waxy green leaves, she watched as they lumbered past, halberds in hand.

She nearly shrieked when she felt whiskers brush her ear, felt a warm puff of breath that reminded her more of sage than fish or cream. "What's black and white and _red_ all over?" Cat asked, eyeing her with a tight grin as the stamping feet of the guards faded away.

"I should start asking _you_ questions," she hissed back, still annoyed with him in her fright. "Clearly you know all the answers."

"But of course. I _am_ a cat."

"I'm unlikely to forget." He was, of course, the epitome of a cat: aloof, enigmatic and unpredictable. That didn't keep her from reaching out and running her fingers through his scratchy, striped fur, hoping to hear him purr again. She only wanted a place to rest, just for a moment, someone to lean against until she could get up again and continue on. Cat had never minded before-- _Before Rabbit died,_ she tried not to think--cajoling her onward with jests and silly riddles. She could use a touch of his wry humor right now, his infallible knack for pointing out the absurd.

When he pulled abruptly away, it left her hand hanging foolishly in midair, and she stared helplessly after him, stung and embarrassed. "Cat--?"

"Alice. Time is short."

"You shouldn't tease him so," she said without thinking. "You know he doesn't like to be reminded--"

"Alice." Cat's eyes as he glanced over his shoulder were grave, grin vanished or banished, tail twitching impatiently. "Wonderland's Time isn't the one you should be worried about."

He was gone a heartbeat later without so much as a flash of teeth, and she found herself unable to move, staring blankly at the space where he'd been. She'd never seen Cat disappear without a smile...or a cat without a smile disappear so.

_There's something troubling him,_ she told herself. _There's something wrong._

But there'd been something wrong since Rabbit died-- _No; there'd been something wrong since the fire_ \--and she could only wonder how many more deaths it would take before things could be set right.


End file.
